Let’s kick this one off with a simple statement.
I love being a Trustee.
For over 6 years I’ve been lucky enough to sit on the Trustee board of the global children’s charity Plan International UK. I was 23 when I joined as their ‘young’ trustee. They were looking for people under 25, interested in international development and wanting to make a difference — tick, tick, tick. Trust me when I say that before doing that application, becoming a trustee was not something I had considered.
The thought may never have crossed your mind either, but hopefully after reading this you may want to consider becoming a trustee — and I would fully encourage anyone over the age of 18 to sit on a trustee/ governing board.
Who are trustees and what do they do?
In England and Wales there are roughly 169,000 registered charities, and the average age of a trustee is 57.
Only 3% of trustees are under the age of 30. *This has to change — Younger people need to be on trustee boards — they provide a new perspective, challenge the ‘usual’ and can be more in touch with the interests of the communities being served.)*
As volunteers, trustees are legally responsible for the charity and ensuring the charity is doing what it was set up to do, in line with its charitable purposes. They must:
- Always act in the charity’s best interests
- Manage the charity’s resources (money/property/staff) responsibly
- Make sure the charity is acting within the law
- Ensure the charity is carrying out its purpose
So, why do I ‘love’ it?
It’s hard to succinctly describe why I enjoy being a trustee so much, but I’ve had a go at summarising it into these three areas:
- You get to support a cause you care about
Probably the most obvious one, but by being a trustee you are able to work in an area you are passionate about. My day job was working in international development so for me I found it absolutely fascinating to go into more depth on different areas of Plan UK’s work and am so proud of their work in areas such as girls’ education, humanitarian responses and their campaigning work to improve girls’ rights, including here in the UK.
For some trustees the charity’s work does not directly align with their career and it is therefore an opportunity to support a cause without moving into the sector. On our board we have trustees from a number of different career backgrounds and experiences, and it’s important to have that diversity so that you don’t get ‘group-think’!
Diversity comes in all shapes and sizes — the board’s function is to support, as well as challenge the executive and other trustees. When you have people working together who have different ages, lived experience, careers and socio-economic background (to name but a few), the trustee board benefits from having a more creative and in-depth discussion. Representation of the programme participants on boards is also crucial. At Plan UK we have two Youth Advisory Panel members and have sought international development expertise and lived experience.
2. It’s an opportunity for you to grow
Being on a trustee board means you have a bird’s eye view of the strategic direction of the organisation. With that, comes a lot of information about strategy, governance, staff, finances, risk etc. many areas that were new to me before starting.
I was absolutely terrified before my first board meeting and thinking ‘Uh-oh, is this going to be a mistake?’ when I was presented with a stack of papers ahead of the meeting. But with support from a few trustee specific training sessions, conversations with staff and trustees, I managed to feel more confident in what I was reading and asking about. I now sit on the nominations and good governance committee and have been involved in the recruitment of other trustees (last round was open to people with experience of any location and any age) and crucially, recruiting the CEO.
I’ve learnt so much from being a trustee, many things that I would never have had the opportunity to be exposed to for a number of years.
3. It’s a commitment that keeps on giving
You should not take the decision to become a trustee lightly — it’s a lot of work and this should not be down-played or underestimated. However, given you know in advance when board meetings are and can anticipate when your workload will increase, you can plan accordingly (but of course things always pop-up needing trustee attention throughout the year).
Sometimes the juggling can be overwhelming but it can often be the case that being a trustee is more rewarding than your day job. It’s a time when you get to step back from your day-to-day and dive head first into the running of another organisation. The longer you stay as a trustee, the more that steep learning curve at the beginning begins to plateau and you can go more in-depth into certain areas. It’s a commitment that the more you give, the more you get back.
Although it is hard-work, it’s also a lot of fun. Each trustee will have their own definition of what they enjoy the most but for me as an extravert I really love spending time with the other trustees (who are brilliant) and meeting those individuals who support Plan UK’s journey.
So there’s a small snap-shot of why I think you should consider becoming a trustee. In my next blog I’ll talk about the practical side of becoming and being a trustee:
- What being a trustee entails
- What to consider if you want to become one
- And, how to become a trustee
